I awake in the same, empty hospital room I’ve woken up in for the past two weeks. Rainbow Dash is nowhere to be seen, and I am both relieved and disappointed. Relieved, because I still don’t know what to think about the part she played in the accident. Disappointed, because it’s really, really boring lying in bed all day with nopony to talk to.
My mind returns to my uncertain relationship with Rainbow Dash. On one hoof, I badly want to blame her for everything—an experienced flyer should’ve known better! The problem is that I should’ve known better, too. Why didn’t I pull up? What was I thinking? With my short-term memory obliterated, I’ll never know what led to me making that crucial mistake. Maybe I was so smitten with Rainbow Dash that my desire to impress her overrode my common sense. That was… probably exactly what happened, to be honest. I feel myself blushing, despite being alone. They weren’t kidding about love being blind.
This, however, raises a more relevant question: Am I still in love with Rainbow Dash? I can remember meeting her, and thinking she was hot, but that magical moment where I really fell in love with her was lost. Sometime during that fateful night, I realized that I wanted to be with Rainbow Dash for the rest of my life, and I’ve forgotten all of it. The date, the conversation, the kiss. I’ve been reset to day one, except now I’m a completely different pony—one without wings. Rainbow Dash can try her best to relay that night from her perspective, but it feels alien to me, like she is describing a stranger. We’d have to start over from square one. The perfect, storybook ending we both wanted has been torn away from us, a casualty of our own stupid choices.
The hard truth is that I am no longer the pony that fell in love with Rainbow Dash. We had admired each other, we were both driven towards our mutual goal of becoming Wonderbolts. We had connected over our shared love for stunt flying, and now I have no wings. If I were to rekindle our romance, I wouldn’t know where to start. This is uncharted territory, and my knowledge of how things went before won’t help me. Now I’m nothing more than a cripple, a useless weight holding Rainbow Dash back from her dreams. No matter how guilty Rainbow Dash feels, it seems impossible for this to work.
I am shaken from my musings when I realize that it’s past mid-afternoon and Rainbow Dash still hasn’t shown up.
She always shows up.
My morose feelings quickly give way to concern, which gradually turns to alarm as the shadows on the floor grow longer. I remember last night, and how depressed she had been by the end of it, and how I had said nothing. Alarm turns into terror as my overactive imagination starts thinking of all the stupid things Rainbow Dash might have done. With a trembling hoof, I push the nurse call button and try to steady my breathing. Less than a minute later, I hear the doorknob turn, and Nurse Pleasant Heart walks in.
“Is everything alright, Mr. Glider?” She asks, wandering up to examine the various medical instruments I’m still plugged into.
“W-well, sort of,” I stammer, unsure of how to phrase my question. “I was, u-uh, wondering if Rainbow Dash stopped by today? Y’know, maybe when I was asleep, o-or something.”
“Hmmmm...” Pleasant Heart looks concerned. “I don’t actually know, I’ll have to check with the front desk. I’ll be back in a bit, alright?”
I nod and watch her leave. I try to stare out the window in an effort to calm my nerves, but the only thing I can see is the occasional pegasus flying between the buildings, once again reminding me of my missing limbs. I let out a long sigh and return to staring at the floor instead. Being a cripple was terribly boring, I muse. It’s even worse when I’m anxiously waiting for something. I want to get up and fly, but even pacing around would be better. Moving at all would be better. I quickly begin to long for the day I can use my legs again, as that would be infinitely better than being stuck in a bed for the rest of my life.
The minutes inch by at a painfully slow pace. If I didn’t know better I would blame Celestia for slowing the sun down. I feel like a colt again, waiting in agonizing boredom for the school bell to ring and release me from my hell. But here, there was no bell, no certainty, no schedule. Just an endless slog that could drag on for 5 more minutes or 50 more minutes.
“Hello again, Prism Glider!” ...Or 5 more seconds, as Nurse Pleasant Heart trots in at just that moment. “Apparently the front desk received a letter from Rainbow Dash that was to be delivered to you later today, but I guess somepony just misplaced it or… something.” Pleasant Heart giggles. “It can get kind of busy here, you know. Anyway, here’s the note, is there anything else you need?”
I begin shaking my head, before I realize that without wings, or even a working pair of forelegs, reading that note was going to be very difficult. “Uh, could you hold it up for me while I read it?”
“Oh, of course, Mr. Glider. I need to check your medication anyway, we’re hoping to wean you off of some of the opioids soon.”
I nod, and turn my attention to the letter floating in front of me...
Hey Prism Glider!
So, Princess Celestia has called all the Elements to Canterlot, effective immediately. The reason is like, super top secret or something, but I know it has something to do with that assassination attempt on Princess Luna. I think so, anyway.
But yeah, I know this is kind of really awful timing, and I even told Princess Celestia that! Unfortunately Celestia was adamant that we all show up in Canterlot for… reasons, and uh, there may have been a small argument about… things. And I might have called our immortal, all-powerful ruler of everything a “stupid bitch”.
So, long story short, I’m in Canterlot now. I tried to visit you in the morning, after I had finished packing my stuff, but the nurses really didn’t want me to wake you up while you were sleeping. I tried to argue with them—really!—but they wouldn’t budge, so now I’m just writing you a letter.
I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything… again. I mean I’ve probably told you I’m sorry like a million times and I know it doesn’t make anything better but before I leave I just have to let you know that I’m really fucking sorry and I’ve never been this sorry in my whole life and I just don’t know what else to say and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as possible and I gotta go now so bye!
— Rainbow Dash
I admit that the part about calling Celestia a “stupid bitch” got a chuckle out of me. Mostly I’m simply relieved there is a reason Rainbow Dash didn’t show up today, and that reason isn’t me or because something happened to her. I’m still bummed that she won’t be showing up again for a week, or however long that “investigation” takes. It’ll probably involve saving Equestria from certain destruction, again.
I ask the nurse to leave the letter on the table next to my bed, and since she’s already here I also ask for some dinner, which ends up being more mediocre hospital food. Munching away on a flower sandwich, I wonder what I’m going to spend my days doing now that Rainbow Dash is off on a mission to save Equestria. To be honest, I’m sick and tired of this hospital room. I just wish something would change. Of course, you know what they say.
Be careful what you wish for.